Vamos la Amistad Argentina-Bangladesh: From sports diplomacy to state-level relationship

During the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships, a 19-year-old US player named Glenn Cowan hopped on a shuttle bus carrying the red-shirted Chinese national team. Zhuang Zedong, the team's greatest player, stepped forward to shake Cowan's hand, spoke to him through an interpreter, and presented him with a gift. This ping-pong breakthrough allowed the greatest leader of China, Mao Zedong, to invite the US team to make an all-expenses-paid visit to his country. 

Subsequently, the ping-pong diplomacy resulted in opening the US-China relationship, leading the US to lift its embargo against China on June 10, 1971.

During the same year, a new country named Bangladesh emerged on the global stage after a bloody independence war. In the tumultuous months of 1971, as the people of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) struggled to free their territory from Pakistani rule, Victoria Ocampo, along with writer Jorge Luis Borges, Reverend Father Ismael Quiles, and other intellectuals, academics, painters, jurists, and eminent authors, inspired and led the intelligentsia of Argentina and Venezuela to denounce the unfair war and seek aid for war refugees. 

Since the birth of the nation, Bangladesh has followed the principle of "friendship to all, malice to none" and participated in different multilateral forums, believing in multilateralism and global order. She wishes to establish friendly bilateral relations with countries ranging from Western Europe to the Middle East to Latin America.

The official diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Argentina were established in 1972 through the launch of a diplomatic mission in Argentina; they were closed mere six years later, in 1978. 

Except for the official visits of the former foreign secretary of Bangladesh, Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, to the Latin American country in 2011, and the visit of the Undersecretary of Foreign Policy of Argentina, Claudio Javier Rozencwaig, accompanied by the Argentine Ambassador to Bangladesh, Hugo Gobbi, to Dhaka to commemorate 50 years of diplomatic relations, there has been no other noticeable progress in the bilateral relationship.

Currently, to get Argentinian visas, Bangladeshi citizens have to go to New Delhi, India, as the Argentinian Embassy of Bangladesh is situated there. The crazy public support for the Argentine football team, especially for Leo Messi, attracted wide media attention both in Bangladesh and Argentina. 

The installation of giant screens in a number of locations around the country to witness the Messi-led renaissance of Argentina and the thousands of fans who gathered to celebrate every goal and the victory of their favourite team attracted the attention of almost everyone, from FIFA to the Argentine Football Association and their citizens as well.

Argentina did not forget to show Bangladeshis their love and respect in return. The football federation of Argentina has already thanked the people of Bangladesh for their support. A few journalists from Argentina began to tweet in Bengali and congratulate the Bangladesh Cricket Team on their recent victory over India. 

When the final whistle blew in the Argentina-France world cup final match, Bangladeshi Argentinian fans of all ages and social classes raised the national flags of their favourite team and took out processions chanting their unwavering support for Argentina.

During the World Cup, Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero declared in a tweet that his country intends to reopen the Argentinian embassy in Dhaka, citing increased trade and a shared interest in cooperating in a variety of areas, including sports. The decision is not only pleasant news but also shows that Argentina and Bangladesh's mutual admiration and respect may be just the beginning of harnessing new avenues of bilateral relations.

So far, Bangladesh and Argentina have been able to explore just the tip of the iceberg of the overall potential of their growing partnership. In 2020, Argentina exported US $450 million to Bangladesh, which increased to US $791 million in the 2021–22 fiscal year. The main products that Argentina exported to Bangladesh were soybean oil, wheat, and soybean meal. In a challenging period of global inflation and price hikes, Argentina could be a good market for Bangladesh.

On the other hand, in 2020, Bangladesh exported $17.3 million worth of goods to Argentina. During the last 25 years, the exports of Bangladesh to Argentina have increased at an annualised rate of 6.46%, from US $3.61 million in 1995 to US $17.3 million in 2020. The main products that Bangladesh exported to Argentina were knit sweaters, knit T-shirts, and non-knit men's suits. Among the total of $9.5 million exported to Argentina in FY 2021-22, the RMG sector accounted for more than 88% of the exports, worth US $8.4 million.

Bangladesh will graduate from the least-developed country (LDC) category to the "developing nation" category on November 24, 2026. After that, Bangladesh will face challenges as it will gradually lose certain privileges such as quotas and duty-free access. 

Subsequently, Bangladesh needs to diversify its apparel market, and Argentina could be a potential market. Besides, Argentina can import Bangladeshi world-standard products, including ships, pharmaceuticals, melamine, and ceramics, at lower prices. Bangladesh and Argentina could also reevaluate the decision on the visa waiver agreement for Bangladeshi diplomats and government officials.

Though the circumstances of Ping-Pong diplomacy and sports diplomacy between Bangladesh and Argentina are different, on both occasions, cooperation at the grassroots level played a crucial role in revitalising state-level relationships. Through people-to-people contact, the media revolution of the twenty-first century and sports diplomacy, the path to a bilateral Bangladesh-Argentina relationship resurfaces. Vamos la Amistad Argentina-Bangladesh!

Sketch: TBS

Dr Shafik A Rahman is a Postdoctoral Fellow, International Relations of Southeast Asia at the National University of Singapore. He completed his post-graduation and PhD in Politics and International relations from Queen Mary University of London, UK. He has experience working in Bangladesh, USA, UK, Singapore and Thailand.